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Alexander Stephen and Sons
Alexander Stephen and Sons Limited, often referred to simply as Alex Stephens or just Stephens, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Linthouse, Glasgow, on the River Clyde. History The Company was founded by Alexander Stephen who began shipbuilding at Burghead on the Moray Firth in 1750.Records of Alexander Stephen & Sons Ltd, shipbuilders and engineers, Linthouse, Govan, Glasgow, Scotland University of Glasgow Archives In 1793 William Stephen, a descendant of his, established a firm of shipbuilders at Footdee in Aberdeen.A Shipbuilding History 1750-1932 (Alexander Stephen and Sons) Chapter 1 Grace's Guide In 1813 another member of the family, again called William, commenced shipbuilding at Arbroath. Alexander Stephen, a member of the third generation of the family, merged the Aberdeen and Arbroath businesses in 1828 and then, after closing the Aberdeen yard in 1829, moved production to the Panmure yard in Dundee in 1842. In 1850 Alexander Stephen arranged a lease of the Kelvinhaugh yard in Glasgow from Robert Black for twenty years from May, 1851. The site of the Kelvinhaugh yard is now Yorkhill Quay. The Arbroath yard finally closed in 1857. Due to the restrictions in size of the Kelvinhaugh yard, as well as the impending expiry of the lease, in 1870 the Glasgow business moved to a new site at Linthouse. The Dundee shipyard was sold to the Dundee Shipbuilders' Company in 1893.A Shipbuilding History 1750-1932 (Alexander Stephen and Sons) Chapter 4 Grace's Guide In a tragic disaster in 1883, the ''Daphne'', a steamer, capsized after its launch from the Linthouse yard, and 124 workers lost their lives.A Stephen (1833-1899), shipbuilder at Kelvinhaugh & Linthouse The Glasgow Story In 1968, Stephens was incorporated into Upper Clyde ShipbuildersGovernment's shipbuilding crisis BBC News, 1 January 2002 and was closed after the latter organisation collapsed in 1971.Parliamentary debates Hansard, 4 June 1971 The engineering and ship repair elements of Alexander Stephen & Sons were not part of the UCS merger and continued until 1976, with the Company eventually wound up in 1982, when the shareholders were repaid. The ship repair business was based at the Govan Graving Docks, which had been purchased from the Clyde Port Authority in 1967. There is no knowledge of the earliest ships built, but the last 153 which were built on the East Coast are recorded. On the Clyde the firm built 697 ships, 147 at the Kelvinhaugh shipyard and the remainder at Linthouse. It was at Stephens shipyard that Billy Connolly served his apprenticeship as a boilermaker. Part of the site is now occupied by a Thales Optronics facility, with the former main office building converted into lettable office space by Govan Workspace. The A-listed former Engine Shop was salvaged by the Scottish Maritime Museum in 1991 and rebuilt at its site in Irvine. Ships built by Alexander Stephen and Sons University of Glasgow Archives hold a number of separately catalogued records collections for various Clyde shipbuilding firms associated with the name Alexander Stephen. For ship's plans, two of the larger holdings are "Collection of miscellaneous ship plans built on the river Clyde, Glasgow, Scotland" (gb 248 GB 248 UGD 130/5) and "Records of Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Ltd, Linthouse Division, shipbuilders Glasgow, Scotland" (gb 248 GB 248 UGD 349). However the cataloging does not list names of individual vessels. Cataloguing is accessed via a link from the GLA home page, directly from the GLA search page. The table below provides basic details of vessels from 1940, and it will be expanded to include other vessels. Further lists of vessels built by the firm can be found at the "Maritime History Virtual Archives": Arbroath yard list 1830-1843, Dundee yard list 1844-1893, Linthouse yard-list 1870-1893. | valign="top" | *Aircraft carrier ** *Cruisers ** Launched as Sea King 1863 Extreme Tea Clipper, Renamed CSS Shenandoah 1864 as a Confederate Cruiser Commerce Raider. ** ** ** *Destroyers ** ** ** ** ** ** **[[HMS Sturgeon (1917)|HMS Sturgeon]] **[[HMS Sceptre (1917)|HMS Sceptre]] **[[HMS Tormentor (1917)|HMS Tormentor]] **[[HMS Tornado (1917)|HMS Tornado]] **[[HMS Vesper (1918)|HMS Vesper]] **[[HMS Vidette (1918)|HMS Vidette]] **[[HMS Voyager (1918)|HMS Voyager]] **[[HMS Sabre (1918)|HMS Sabre]] **[[HMS Saladin (1919)|HMS Saladin]] **[[HMS Sardonyx (1919)|HMS Sardonyx]] **[[HMS Saturn (1919)|HMS Saturn]] - cancelled **[[HMS Sycamore (1919)|HMS Sycamore]] - cancelled **[[HMS Gallant (1936)|HMS Gallant]] **[[HMS Grenade (1936)|HMS Grenade]] **[[HMS Zulu (F18)|HMS Zulu]] **[[HMS Sikh (F82)|HMS Sikh]] **[[HMS Matchless (G52)|HMS Matchless]] **[[HMS Meteor (G73)|HMS Meteor]] **[[HMS Chevron (R51)|HMS Chevron]] **[[HMS Cheviot (R90)|HMS Cheviot]] **[[HMS Consort (R76)|HMS Consort]] **[[HMS Dunkirk (I09)|HMS Dunkirk]] **[[HMS Jutland (I62)|HMS Jutland]] **[[HMS St Lucia (I42)|HMS St Lucia]] - cancelled and broken up on slipway. **[[HMS Defender (I47)|HMS Defender]] *Hunt Class Destroyers **[[HMS Tynedale (L96)|HMS Tynedale]] **[[HMS Whaddon (L45)|HMS Whaddon]] **[[HMS Croome (L62)|HMS Croome]] **[[HMS Dulverton (L63)|HMS Dulverton]] **[[HMS Blackmore (L43)|HMS Blackmore]] **[[HMS Bramham (L51)|HMS Bramham]] **[[HMS Holcombe (L56)|HMS Holcombe]] **[[HMS Limbourne (L57)|HMS Limbourne]] *Frigates ** ** | valign="top" | *Minelayers ** ** *Sloops ** ** *Auxiliaries ** ** *Yachts **''Medea'' **Rover *Liners ** ** ** **RMS Port Kingston (1904), renamed ** ** 1909, later renamed Hammonia ** ** ** ** |} References External links * The Clyde-built ships data base - lists over 22,000 ships built on the Clyde Alexander Stephens Alexander Stephens Category:Govan Category:Companies established in 1750 Category:1750 establishments in Scotland Category:1982 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Category:Companies disestablished in 1982